Twinkling Lights
by Revolutionary Venom
Summary: Sparkling diamonds in the sky, the sky reflects. A short story that's Cye-centric


Hallo again! I got the idea for this short story after I was looking through some poems I had written back in my senior year of high school. The one at the beginning was an imitation assignment where one had to pick from the list of poets and imitate their style. I picked D.H. Lawerence for that and in the story was the result.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Ronin Warriors. Just the poem at the beginning (SO NO STEALING OF IT!)

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"_The lights brighten up the room,_

_Cheery as they are,_

_Wrapped around an elegant fir,_

_Trying to brighten people's lives,_

_Even if just once a year,"_

Cye lowered the magazine after reading that poem. This particular magazine, every December, would have a contest to see who could write the best poetry related to Christmas. He loved to read this particular issue every year, just to see who in Japan would win.

He looked up at the tree that had yet to be taken down. Though it was early in January, the others and himself couldn't take the tree down just yet. The decorated being hadn't been bought until three days before Christmas and had taken until Christmas Eve to decorate. Besides…it was just too beautiful. Cye liked to watch the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, wherever he might be every year, from the time he was just a little kid to now as a Ronin Warrior. They, in his opinion, were the best part of putting a tree together, but that was just him.

For their first official Christmas as Ronin Warriors, they decided to decorate the tree together. Cye found out a lot of stuff from this bit of…fun chaos, as he put it. Mia had brought down a few different boxes, aged with time, full of Christmas ornaments and lights. And she made her famous holiday hot chocolate for them all, which they drank as they decorated.

But anyway…

Rowen apparently liked to mess around with the colored balls that Mia had in an old box she kept with the other decorations. Sage had quietly taken out the lights and untangled them, a smile on his face, though most people hate untangling the lights for the tree. Ryo pulled out some old, handmade ornaments that Mia had made as a kid from another box, and some chaos with Mia had ensued from that. Kento…

Well, Kento was a different story. Since he had gotten hurt in an incident with the warlords over a month ago, simple tasks were hard for him. He had tried his best to help, and since he was the tallest, he put the star on top of the tree. But it came at a price; as soon as he got the star on, pain had shot into both sides of his chest, front and back. He had given a cry of pain that horrified Cye. Kento had almost passed out because of the reverberating pain, but managed not to, thanks to Ryo, (who caught him) and Sage, with an instant-straight-from-Halo painkiller.

Torrent sighed, and looked over to the other couch in the living room. Kento lay on his back, napping, his left arm draped over a Rudolph plush, and the other lay over the side of the couch, touching the floor. He snored slightly, a tired look on his sleeping face.

The oldest warrior smiled a little as he watched his friend sleep. The stuffed Rudolph had been there when Cye had come into the living room about an hour before, so he'd figured that one of the other Ronin Warriors had snuck it under Kento's arm after he'd fallen asleep. He wasn't sure how long the Ronin of Earth had been asleep, but he would get a surprise when he woke up.

_I just hope Kento doesn't scare himself when he wakes up and falls off the couch,_ Cye thought, putting the magazine on the table and getting up. He wanted to go somewhere else in the house, but he wasn't sure where. The only other person home was Mia, but she was upstairs taking a shower, so Cye didn't really have anyone else to talk to at the moment.

He walked towards the kitchen, the thoughts of twinkling lights in his mind. _Where is a good place to see sparkling-? _

Then it hit him. He wanted to smack himself. _Duh!_ Torrent thought. He changed his course from the kitchen to the coat closet.

_Why didn't I think of that before? It's so obvious! _Cye pulled out his coat, putting it on as he walked over to where everyone took their shoes off. Sitting down on the floor, he pulled his boots from the pile.

_God, I'm becoming as stupid as Rowen when he has way too much sugar. _He shoved his feet into the boots and tied them up.

While Rowen did eat sweets a lot, he never indulged unless it was a major holiday. THEN was the time to fear his sugar highs. And as much as he loved his friend, sugar highs were the times to flee the house…or at least hide anything breakable and hide their own stashes of candy before Rowen could do much more damage.

Cye got up, opening the door, and walked outside. Hopping off the porch, he could hear his boots crunching into the snow. Another thing he liked about winter; there was a part of his element just about everywhere. Snow was just frozen water, so he figured it was one of the reasons he had always liked winter, even after he was granted the Torrent armor.

Looking up towards the sky, Cye gazed at the stars, a big smile on his face. He was in awe of the wintery night sky. All the stars tonight were shining like diamonds: Torrent was sure that if Rowen hadn't gone into the city with Ryo and Sage, he'd be out here as well, pointing out constellations.

"What'cha doing out here?"

Cye turned around and looked to see Kento on the porch. "When'd you wake up?" asked Torrent. The Ronin of Earth shrugged. "A few minutes ago. I heard the door and started to wake up." He paused. "What was with the Rudolph stuffed animal?"

Torrent smiled and laughed a bit. "It was there when I went to the living room. So I don't know," he told his friend.

Kento smiled a little, coming off the porch and to Cye. "What are you doing out here?" he asked. Cye smiled and looked back up. "Just…stargazing, I suppose." He looked back at his best friend. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Kento told him. "I guess painkillers and a nap will help when one feels bad." He smiled, though he had a hand on one of his sides and a bit of a pained look on his face.

Cye frowned, but played along anyway. He looked back up at the stars, taking in their simplicity. Kento also looked up, just thinking.

"You know," Hardrock said. "Even after all that happened last year, it was still a good run, don'tcha think?"

Cye smiled. "Yea, I think so," he said, the grin coming back to his face, thanking his lucky stars that the Ronins were still five.

And for a long time, the two just stood there, watching the diamonds in the sky.

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Well....that's kinda it ^^; I hope you all liked it. I tried to make it Cye-centric, so I hope you enjoyed it enough to review!


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